


Monthly Girls' Tazaki-kun

by SerenataImmortale



Category: Joker Game (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Parody - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-04 00:33:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10978647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerenataImmortale/pseuds/SerenataImmortale
Summary: From the perspective of others, Tazaki might seem like a normal high school student—but he's actually a talented manga artist!Joker Game High School AU with a twist.





	Monthly Girls' Tazaki-kun

From the perspective of others, Tazaki might seem like any normal high school student.

He’s handsome, intelligent, and friendly, which makes him quite popular with the girls. He also has an air of maturity about him, which adds to his mysterious nature. What most don’t know however, is that he’s actually a talented manga artist under the pen name _Seto Reiko_.

As the creator of the shoujo manga **"Hato & Rabu"**, he’s well-known for cheesy pick-up lines and detailed drawings of pigeons _(AN: to those of you who play questionable dating sims like “HATOFUL BOYFRIEND”, Tazaki’s manga isn’t about humans getting romantically involved with pigeons so don’t get your hopes up; that boy just likes to draw pigeons)_. Some find his works unappealing – unrealistic even, but most female fans can’t wait for him to release the next chapter.

This particular manga is _the talk_ among youngsters. As much as the birdman enjoys picking up on fellow students’ conversations whenever he happens to pass them in the hallways, his secret identity remains a secret because that's how a secret should be treated: _as a secret._

He wasn’t embarrassed about his own manga; not at all. Sure, the title seemed somewhat fishy, but _surprise_ and _randomness_ were the kinds of elements that caught people’s attention these days. Why else would memes like **Dat Boi** and **Mocking SpongeBob** take the internet by storm?

No, Tazaki’s main reason for not revealing his identity was rather simple _—the fans._

Attention could be nice, but only when there wasn’t too much of it. The young mangaka enjoyed his peaceful life, hence why only a few friends of his knew about this particular hobby.

Speaking of friends…

“Odagiri,” he called at a student who sat right behind him. They were on lunch break, which was the perfect time to bring this up. “Do you have time to spare after school? I need help with something.”

“The usual?” The young man named Odagiri asked after finally looking up from his phone.

“The usual.”

“I see.” A nod confirmed his answer.

This guy was not only a friend of Tazaki’s, but also his assistant. Although quiet and awkward to a degree, he was good with his hands and a hard worker. His role was to be in charge of the backgrounds.

Now that their conversation seemed to have come to an end, Odagiri’s gaze returned to his phone screen. It was no surprise why his eyesight sucked, but did that stop him from his bad habits? Never. He just happened to be a stubborn one, like most youngsters at this age were.

“What game are you playing?” Blue eyes fixated on his classmate. Although he couldn’t get a clear view of the screen, as it faced the other way with the brightness resolution set down to at least 20%, Tazaki could tell Odagiri was trying to concentrate on _something_ as he tapped away on his phone. He wore his in-ear headphones on one side too, hence why _‘Maybe he’s playing a game?’_ was the first thing that came to mind.

“I don’t think you know it.” A half-hearted reply.

“What’s it called, then?”

“…” The other seemed to hesitate a bit before uttering something under his breath: “L…Love Live.”

“Cool.” The pigeon-lover had heard about that game and how addicting it was, but never expected Odagiri to be a fan. Then again, who was he to judge? He was a mangaka for god’s sake.

Deciding to leave his friend alone for now, his gaze scanned the classroom. It was almost empty due to lunchtime, and present were mostly those who were too poor to eat cafeteria food or too rich to even bother.

In one of the middle rows sat Miyoshi, a genius from the art club. Although they weren’t close, he planned to recruit him as an assistant one of these days. His manga did well so far, but they struggled with the colored pages because neither him nor Odagiri had that kind of skill.

A few seats behind Miyoshi sat a brunet named Kaminaga. Kaminaga… Well, never mind him.

On the other side of the room sat Fukumoto, a student too tall for his age. He always brought his own bento to class, so the mangaka guessed he had someone to cook for him every day.

There was an empty seat at the front row. Apparently, they were getting a new student this week. Tazaki hoped whoever that was could help him with his manga.

“Do you need help with something specific?” Odagiri finally spoke up again. He must have decided to take a break from the game.

“It’s the backgrounds for the chapter’s last pages. We need to finish them before the deadline next week.” They still had time, but he wasn’t one to wait until the last minute. After all, there were school works to take care of too.

“I never knew mangakas had it so rough,” the assistant admitted, his voice hinting of empathy.

“Most don’t know, but that is fine,” he reassured him, “I enjoy being a mangaka. All the hard work aside, it’s actually not too bad. So don't worry, Odagiri; I'm not _Seto Reiko_ for nothing.”

“Sounds like fun,” a soft voice interrupted their conversation. Those words had sent chills down Tazaki's spine, yet beads of perspiration were now starting to form on his forehead. The eavesdropper was none other than Jitsui, the _last_ person he wanted to have _anything_ to do with.

Smiling, the pretty boy seemed almost  _too_ excited. “So, what do you need me to do?”

_Crap._

It wasn’t that he hated the guy, but things would definitely get complicated with him around. Jitsui was part of no club because none of them interested him _(the gods must have smiled upon those people, Tazaki couldn’t help but guess)_. Despite his innocent looks, there were rumors about what a _terrifying_ person he could be if anyone ended up on his bad side.

Because he was in no club, he also had all the time in the world to make life miserable for others (aka  _them_ ).

“Hatano is busy with basketball practice these days and can’t spend time with me. Besides, with my knowledge about manga I’m sure I can help you guys out.”

“Really?” Well, if he actually could give them a hand then maybe it wouldn’t be too bad—

“Yes, my favorite manga is **L*tchi** **☆H*kari Club**. It’s the only I’ve read, but I’ve always wanted to create a manga like that; just, with a different ending where the main character actually succeeds to dominate the world.”

“This is _not_ that kind of manga.” He felt a headache coming up.

“You worry too much.”

 _Of course_ he’d worry! “…how much of the conversation did you hear?”

“Enough to know that we’ll be meeting after class. I’ll see you later, _Seto Reiko-san,_ ” Jitsui waved lightly at them before leaving to greet Hatano who was currently arguing with Amari at the doorway.

The mangaka was definitely not looking forward to what was to come. The gods had abandoned him, he told himself in dejection.

“Odagiri…”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have to wave back at him.”

“Oh.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Although I based the setting on "Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun" for the Nozaki/Tazaki joke, it will probably be very different from the original manga. Also; even though Tazaki might seem like the main character, I'll be focusing on all the spies + Sakuma.
> 
> This is my first multi-chapter fic for Joker Game. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the story as much as I enjoy writing it!


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